Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 9th, 2006
By the time this film was announced, everyone and their dog had asked me if I’d read The Da Vinci Code. I hadn’t.
Yes, I’d heard it was the bestest book in the whole wide world. No, I didn’t want to borrow their copy. Months later, when I finally sat down to watch this DVD, I had still not read Dan Brown’s masterpiece. See, I decided to be one of the few who could judge the film as completely separate from the novel.
Unfortunately for my personal experiment, it seems that the book was simply
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Gino Sassani on November 8th, 2006
One of the longest running and most successful television sitcoms came to an end on February 28th 1983. It was an event to end all events. Goodbye, Farewell, and Amen was perhaps the greatest series finale in television history. It was certainly the most watched. Night workers called in sick. Some businesses either suspended work or offered sets for workers to see this long anticipated conclusion. What a fitting end it was. Each character was given what amounted to the best moments in the run. More serious than fun...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on November 6th, 2006
20 years after its theatrical release, Transformers the Movie is available on DVD. This is indeed a treat for all Transformers fans, since the VHS version of the movie has apparently been out of print for several years.
This 2-Disc set is a significant upgrade from the VHS version, boasting a remastered image, commentary tracks, and tons of extras.
In order to properly understand how this movie fits into the saga of The Transformers, we must go back to 1984, when the s...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 2nd, 2006
Harry Alan Towers, that prolific producer of cheap but handsome exploitation (and the man behind many Jess Franco films back in the day) backed this 1983 effort which attracted some interest (from somewhere, apparently) for featuring French game show hostess Sophie Favier showing off her prizes, as it were. She isn't the lead, though. That happens to be one Jennifer Inch (?!), who plays a young woman dressing as a young boy. She is adopted by a nobleman, who wonders why he's so excited around his young charge.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by David Annandale on November 1st, 2006
Well! The case informs us that "Former Miss Bahamas, Josephine Jacqueline Jones spraked an international firestorm with her debut starring role as Venus." I guess I must have slept through that firestorm. At any rate, this tale, "based on the scandalous story by Honor' de Balzac" (but then, Tower of the Screaming Virgins is "based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas"), is narrated in flashback by an elderly gentlemen who frequents a brothel, and sees the title character there. The film tells of her journeys through decadent 19th-Century society.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 30th, 2006
Synopsis
Michael Douglas is a familiar figures: The Hard-Bitten Cop Who Plays By His Own Rules. He is currently under investigation by Internal Affairs. When he and partner Andy Garcia witness a Yakuza killing and nab the killer, they are tasked with escorting him back to Japan. They have barely landed when they lose him, and are pared up with straight-arrow Osaka cop Ken Takakura in the search to track the villain down again. Douglas and Takakura, as expected, engage in considerable culture clashing.
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 29th, 2006
Synopsis
Of all the Bond films and the various images and gadgets that have come from it through 20 films, the one that probably crystallized most of these images is Goldfinger. You have the awesome Aston Martin car with the ejector seat, machine guns, and the like. You had the female who could kick ass and had a really cool name in Pussy Galore (Honor Blackman, Bridget Jones’s Diary). And you had Jill Masterson (Shirley Eaton, Ten Little Indians) experiencing the most creative death to...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 28th, 2006
With all that’s been going on with Tom Cruise as of late, I found myself doubting the integrity of this picture. I was fearful that the happenings of Cruise’s personal life would somehow bring down this movie; the previous two films did set the bar pretty high. So how did the third installment add up, did it fall short of expectations, or did it deliver beyond what I expected?
MI:III doesn’t hesitate a minute to bring us suspense, the picture begins with Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) having Et...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006
Synopsis
Michael Caine is a jewel thief recruited by Eric Portman and wife Giovanna Ralli for a big job. Caine falls in love with Ralli, but that’s fine with Portman, who’s gay. There are yet more secrets that he has yet to reveal, however, and they could jeopardise the success of the partnership.
As an example of how not to make a thriller, this is hard to beat. John Barry is undoubtedly one of the great film score composers, but the music should support the film, and not the other way aro...
Posted in: Disc Reviews by Archive Authors on October 25th, 2006
It’s been a decade since Brian De Palma’s Mission: Impossible hit theatres to box office success, established a new blockbuster franchise and added ‘action hero’ to Tom Cruise’s résumé. In 2000, John Woo’s highly stylized follow-up raised the franchise to new box office heights. This year, the long-awaited third installment arrived amidst controversy about Tom Cruise’s crazy off-screen antics.
M:i:III’s U.S. box office take suffered from the public backlash to its headliner’s whacky rants and questionable actions.